406 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 



between income and outgo must be widened if the present values of 

 our farms are to be sustained. The land owner as well as the renter 

 has a right to expect more than a mere living. They got that when 

 they did not have one-sixth as much invested in a farm as now. It is 

 our fundamental business ; and if anyone is entitled to a living wage 

 it is they who do the work on our farms, and if anyone is entitled 

 to a fair interest on their investments it is the owners of these farms. 



Diversified farming with a good dairy herd, be it large or small, as 

 the center of operations will come nearer producing the desired re- 

 sult one year with another than almost any other plan. Farming is 

 not a job any longer; it is becoming a science, and must be so treated 

 if the farmer expects to get the returns we have already said he is 

 entitled to. If one-half of what is claimed for the pure bred is true 

 and if one-half of what is charged against the scrub can be believed, 

 there must be a tremendous waste on our farms at present, for it is 

 claimed that not over 15 per cent of the stock is pure bred and some 

 set it as low as 10 per cent. Again when you consider what a small 

 per cent of the butter that is made brings the top price, and that the 

 remainder sells from two to ten cents per pound less, you are once 

 more reminded that this department has plenty of work ahead. It is 

 more or less thus in all branches of agriculture. 



I do not say this as a reflection on what is being done, but simply 

 to show that notwithstanding all the improvements that have been 

 made we are a long way from getting out of the average farm all 

 that it can be made to produce. Conditions are so much better than 

 a year ago that much of the gloom that was so depressing then has 

 largely disappeared. We are looking forward to one of the most 

 successful years that this department has enjoyed. 



The reviewing of the work for the last year and my recommenda- 

 tions for the coming year will be taken up under the separate heads 

 of the different subjects as they appear in the following pages. 



DAIRY PRODUCTION 



Dairying has become a powerful economic factor in Iowa. Never 

 in the history of the state has there been as much interest displayed 

 in this branch of agriculture as during the past year. 



Farmers, bankers, and business men also — all consumers of dairy 

 products, have taken an active interest in the industry and are awak- 

 ening to the possibilities of dairying and what it now means to the 

 state in general. 



